Board Gaming Era |OT| (Mostly) Unplugged Gaming

[Puru]

Tapestry gives me the same feeling than wingspan. I actually like how it flows and liked my playthrough of it, but ultimately it seems to be the same "pray when you draw" kind of deal. Only fun if you like the mechanics and don't care about luck deciding of the outcome.
These games are actually resulting in me liking dice based system more and more.
At least you can still hope the odds will be on your side at some point, nothing will save you from an early killdeer and raven outside of their clones in a deck of 170~ cards.
Ill try it solo next time, i actually have good hopes for it.

 

[shodgson8]

Tapestry gives me the same feeling than wingspan. I actually like how it flows and liked my playthrough of it, but ultimately it seems to be the same "pray when you draw" kind of deal. Only fun if you like the mechanics and don't care about luck deciding of the outcome.
These games are actually resulting in me liking dice based system more and more.
At least you can still hope the odds will be on your side at some point, nothing will save you from an early killdeer and raven outside of their clones in a deck of 170~ cards.
Ill try it solo next time, i actually have good hopes for it.

Click to shrink...

Would love to hear solo opinions on Tapestry, it would be primarily how I would play the game.

 

[Rosebud]

Hi, first post here.

I decided to start playing board games (solo, at least for now) and found Mansion of Madness, it looks awesome and I want to buy it. It is fine for a newcomer? Should I buy a pack with some expansions (it's really expensive btw lol) or just the base game is fine?

Thanks!

 

[XShagrath]

Hi, first post here.

I decided to start playing board games (solo, at least for now) and found Mansion of Madness, it looks awesome and I want to buy it. It is fine for a newcomer? Should I buy a pack with some expansions (it's really expensive btw lol) or just the base game is fine?

Thanks!

Click to shrink...

Mansions of Madness is really easy to get into, due to the app integration. The rules are very easy.

If you live in the US, a lot of Target stores have the base game on clearance for $50, which is a very good price.

https://brickseek.com/target-inventory-checker/?sku=207-04-0518

 

[BassForever]

Hi, first post here.

I decided to start playing board games (solo, at least for now) and found Mansion of Madness, it looks awesome and I want to buy it. It is fine for a newcomer? Should I buy a pack with some expansions (it's really expensive btw lol) or just the base game is fine?

Thanks!

Click to shrink...

Base game is fine to start, you get 4 scenarios that range from 1-3 hours in length depending upon the scenario and that assumes you even win on your first try (spoilers you probably won't). You can also buy 3 more scenarios in the app if you need more content for cheap. The scenarios also have some variability to how they play out so even replaying the same, easy intro scenario can have a pretty different feel. Unless one of the expansions either has an investigator you really want to play as or access to a scenario that is your jam I'd hold off for now.

 

[Chromie]

So what do people think of Bras Birmingham? I've seen great reviews and a meaty economic game sounds so fun but I'd realistically only would get to play with one other person. How is it at 2 players?

Has anyone bought the retail version or have the Kickstarter version? What are the major differences?

 

[Jimrpg]

A couple of things I ordered this week.

Amazon had Pandemic Contagion for $9 and free delivery. I couldn't say no.

Then today, I found Undaunted: Normandy on Book Depository for a decent price (about $25) and free delivery so I picked that up too. It's my first WWII game, and I'd been wanting to get Memoir 44.

I also picked up the Humble Bundle Make a Card Game bundle for $20. It's so much easier than having to find assets myself, having checked out the assets a little, I feel like almost there's so many games that have similar/same art to the assets here.

 

[Heynongman!]

Barnes and Noble had Abomination when I went in today and I couldn't resist. Looking forward to checking it out

 

[Joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Barnes and Noble had Abomination when I went in today and I couldn't resist. Looking forward to checking it out

Click to shrink...

I played it last week and had a blast. Be prepared for a long game. It took us about three and a half hours to finish with teaching. The good thing is it doesn't feel like it drags.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Barnes and Noble had Abomination when I went in today and I couldn't resist. Looking forward to checking it out

Click to shrink...

Still waiting on mine :( preordered months ago but last minute it's got a few weeks out ahead at BN. I wish they'd be upfront on retail times exclusives. I woulda gladly just bought it there early but I already paid my preorder

 

[Malverde]

Played Pandemic for the first time yesterday despite having bought it almost a year ago. Everyone loved it and wondered why we hadn't played it sooner despite us losing thanks to a chain outbreak one turn before our scientist could cure the last disease.

 

[piratepwnsninja]

Barnes and Noble had Abomination when I went in today and I couldn't resist. Looking forward to checking it out

Click to shrink...

My FLGS is getting it in this week. I'm pretty excited!

 

[Heynongman!]

I played it last week and had a blast. Be prepared for a long game. It took us about three and a half hours to finish with teaching. The good thing is it doesn't feel like it drags.

Click to shrink...

Oh wow, I knew it was long but dang. How many did you play with?

Still waiting on mine :( preordered months ago but last minute it's got a few weeks out ahead at BN. I wish they'd be upfront on retail times exclusives. I woulda gladly just bought it there early but I already paid my preorder

Click to shrink...

That is indeed a bummer. I knew it was fishy that B&N had copies but it was only for preorder everywhere else I checked. I saw they have exclusives on Parks and Raccoon Tycoon as well. I was kinda shocked.

My FLGS is getting it in this week. I'm pretty excited!

Click to shrink...

It looks friggen great, and super thematic

 

[Joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Oh wow, I knew it was long but dang. How many did you play with?

Click to shrink...

It was 4 of us. We all were first timers with Abomination.

 

[Rover]

So what do people think of Bras Birmingham? I've seen great reviews and a meaty economic game sounds so fun but I'd realistically only would get to play with one other person. How is it at 2 players?

Has anyone bought the retail version or have the Kickstarter version? What are the major differences?

Click to shrink...

Brass is good but I wouldn't at 2P. Check out London if you want a better 2P Martin Wallace game, the Osprey edition is really nice.

 

[-Tetsuo-]

So what do people think of Bras Birmingham? I've seen great reviews and a meaty economic game sounds so fun but I'd realistically only would get to play with one other person. How is it at 2 players?

Has anyone bought the retail version or have the Kickstarter version? What are the major differences?

Click to shrink...

Its a great game but I would never play it at 2 players

 

[shodgson8]

Quick Spirit Island question for anyone who has played...

If I have hit the ravage phase which has caused the explorers to attack a heavily fortified area and the counter attack on the towns in that area generate fear that caused the Terror Level 3 card to trigger....if in these circumstances I have no cities on the map is that an instant win or do I need to complete the invader phase which may add a city to the map??

Hope that makes even the smallest amount of sense.

EDIT: Just gave the rules a second read through and see that it counts as an immediate win. Sweet!

 

[Rover]

Quick Spirit Island question for anyone who has played...

If I have hit the ravage phase which has caused the explorers to attack a heavily fortified area and the counter attack on the towns in that area generate fear that caused the Terror Level 3 card to trigger....if in these circumstances I have no cities on the map is that an instant win or do I need to complete the invader phase which may add a city to the map??

Hope that makes even the smallest amount of sense.

EDIT: Just gave the rules a second read through and see that it counts as an immediate win. Sweet!

Click to shrink...

Right I'm pretty sure the rules say you win immediately, regardless of timing, whenever the condition on the threat level occurs

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Played campy creatures vol 2 today. Was fun. Have assistant question:
It says you keep them and score at end of round (not game). So do you just keep scoring them after each round, even the ones you scored already?
EDIT: key master replies and yeah you keep scoring them. Those are darn powerful

 

[Chromie]

Brass is good but I wouldn't at 2P. Check out London if you want a better 2P Martin Wallace game, the Osprey edition is really nice.

Click to shrink...

Right I'm pretty sure the rules say you win immediately, regardless of timing, whenever the condition on the threat level occurs

Click to shrink...

Just wondering, how come? I'll look more into it but I admit, I really love high production quality.

 

[Rover]

Just wondering, how come? I'll look more into it but I admit, I really love high production quality.

Click to shrink...

It's just one of those games that is driven by player interaction. It doesn't seem to me like the game would really get moving with only two entities on the board, and it would be too much of a zero sum game.

 

[Chromie]

It's just one of those games that is driven by player interaction. It doesn't seem to me like the game would really get moving with only two entities on the board, and it would be too much of a zero sum game.

Click to shrink...

Makes sense. Didn't even think Of that.

 

[Jimrpg]

Picked this up this morning on Amazon for $10 (still available at that price). It's basically Survivor the board game, as a huge fan of Survivor and also a couple of friends being fans too, I had to get it.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Big clearance at BN
I grabbed paper tales for 11$

Edit: mine was canceled :(

https://slickdeals.net/?sdtid=13428...ew-clearance/games-collectibles/_/N-2qh1Z1gls

 

[FloatOn]

Picked up Unmatched over the weekend but haven't had a chance to play it. Will likely also get Funkoverse Harry Potter. It'll be interesting to see which I like more.

From what I've seen I'm leaning towards Unmatched.

 

[Spaceroast]

Finally picked up Aeon's End: War Eternal recently to complement my original base set and add more variety, and I decided today it was finally time to test it out with a full gaming group. My wife and I had previously only played the game 2 player and had a somewhat easy time of it. That was nearly 2 years ago.

Holy crap is this game hard with 4! You get half as many turns, so you don't get to develop your deck much at all as you try desperately to keep up with what the nemesis throws at you. Overall I found this to be extremely frustrating as it felt like the added difficulty came from reduced player agency. And yet, I really loved the experience of having 4 players work together in this fantastic game. I think I'd like to make a small tweak to alleviate this, but I need to work out how. Maybe it's as simple as adding in a wild card to turn order so that each round, one player gets to take two turns? Maybe randomize it with a d4? I feel like that might make the game trivially easy though. I'll have to think on it some more.

 

[Deleted member 4452]

Finally picked up Aeon's End: War Eternal recently to complement my original base set and add more variety, and I decided today it was finally time to test it out with a full gaming group. My wife and I had previously only played the game 2 player and had a somewhat easy time of it. That was nearly 2 years ago.

Holy crap is this game hard with 4! You get half as many turns, so you don't get to develop your deck much at all as you try desperately to keep up with what the nemesis throws at you. Overall I found this to be extremely frustrating as it felt like the added difficulty came from reduced player agency. And yet, I really loved the experience of having 4 players work together in this fantastic game. I think I'd like to make a small tweak to alleviate this, but I need to work out how. Maybe it's as simple as adding in a wild card to turn order so that each round, one player gets to take two turns? Maybe randomize it with a d4? I feel like that might make the game trivially easy though. I'll have to think on it some more.

Click to shrink...

Are you playing with the 1 2 3 4 turn order cards, or 1/2 1/2 3/4 3/4?

 

[Chromie]

Well damn. My wave 1 shipment for Too Many Bones is here, it's big!

Looks like I'll have to do some Tetrising later.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Well damn. My wave 1 shipment for Too Many Bones is here, it's big!

Looks like I'll have to do some Tetrising later.

Click to shrink...

Holy crap wow

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Got Taverns of Tifenthal today. Really looking forward to this one. Huge quacks fan and it's the same person/team.

 

[Adda]

Got Taverns of Tifenthal today. Really looking forward to this one. Huge quacks fan and it's the same person/team.

Click to shrink...

I didn't like it as much as quacks but it's still good fun, feels like some of the modules are required and there might be some strategies that are a bit unbalanced.

Definitely one to play with the lighter crew.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

I didn't like it as much as quacks but it's still good fun, feels like some of the modules are required and there might be some strategies that are a bit unbalanced.

Definitely one to play with the lighter crew.

Click to shrink...

Oh yeah this is one is for me with the wife and daughter . They put up with a lot of tough stuff so they are really happy for light ones now and then ha

 

[BassForever]

Big clearance at BN
I grabbed paper tales for 11$

Edit: mine was canceled :(

https://slickdeals.net/?sdtid=13428...ew-clearance/games-collectibles/_/N-2qh1Z1gls

Click to shrink...

Ordered Hail Hydra for $12 after shipping. Been a game I've wanted to play and at a good price.

 

[Spaceroast]

Are you playing with the 1 2 3 4 turn order cards, or 1/2 1/2 3/4 3/4?

Click to shrink...

Playing with 1, 2, 3, 4. I did see the variant in the book, and I get that having some small choice in turn order could help, but it seemed like it would add a bunch of intervals where we would have to discuss whose turn it should be and would slow the game down considerably. Maybe we'll try it again today with this method though.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

My pret a porter still hasn't shipped even though today's update says they finished shipping

 

[-Tetsuo-]

Well damn. My wave 1 shipment for Too Many Bones is here, it's big!

Looks like I'll have to do some Tetrising later.

Click to shrink...

TMB is so damn good.

 

[Chromie]

TMB is so damn good.

Click to shrink...

Have any tips or easily missed rules? I'll be giving it a shot tomorrow.

 

[Mandos]

Thanks to an amazon sale I'm considering picking up Horrified and Azul for $53. They are both considered solid gateways right? I'm feeling really tempted at that price

 

[Deleted member 49179]

Thanks to an amazon sale I'm considering picking up Horrified and Azul for $53. They are both considered solid gateways right? I'm feeling really tempted at that price

Click to shrink...

I think that the original Azul should be in every collection. It's an outstanding (gateway) game.

 

[Chromie]

Thanks to an amazon sale I'm considering picking up Horrified and Azul for $53. They are both considered solid gateways right? I'm feeling really tempted at that price

Click to shrink...

I think Azul is more than just a gateway game. I linked Paul's review from SUSD at what encapsulates Azul. Perfect way to sum it up and I love it.

 

[Deleted member 4452]

Playing with 1, 2, 3, 4. I did see the variant in the book, and I get that having some small choice in turn order could help, but it seemed like it would add a bunch of intervals where we would have to discuss whose turn it should be and would slow the game down considerably. Maybe we'll try it again today with this method though.

Click to shrink...

It's usually a pretty fast decision, but gives the players a bit of extra tactical flexibility (for example, if one mage has a bunch of spells loaded up, or if the healer absolutely needs to heal). Playing with 1/2 and 3/4 hasn't increased the downtime at all.

Bookkeeping-wise, we put the tokens in the middle of the table. If one player takes a turn, we push the token towards that player. Once the 2nd player has a turn, we push it back towards the center.

 

[Mandos]

I think that the original Azul should be in every collection. It's an outstanding (gateway) game.

Click to shrink...

I think Azul is more than just a gateway game. I linked Paul's review from SUSD at what encapsulates Azul. Perfect way to sum it up and I love it.

Click to shrink...

Agh you guys are tempting me to get Azul after all... but I kinda need to abstain right now, I'm on a tight budget and really shouldn't be buying any more games

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Agh you guys are tempting me to get Azul after all... but I kinda need to abstain right now, I'm on a tight budget and really shouldn't be buying any more games

Click to shrink...

Honestly azul is a must have game. Anyone can play and It's fantastic.

horrified is a freakin blast and a very good gateway game.

 

[Chromie]

Agh you guys are tempting me to get Azul after all... but I kinda need to abstain right now, I'm on a tight budget and really shouldn't be buying any more games

Click to shrink...

I think the great thing about Azul, it's the one game I was able to play with my mom over coffee when visiting her. It's so damn simple to understand but enough depth to stay in anyone's collection.

 

[Mandos]

Honestly azul is a must have game. Anyone can play and It's fantastic.

horrified is a freakin blast and a very good gateway game.

Click to shrink...

Great now I'm conflicted again

 

[Lyng]

Brass is good but I wouldn't at 2P. Check out London if you want a better 2P Martin Wallace game, the Osprey edition is really nice.

Click to shrink...

Brass Birmingham is very good at two. Very different from regular Brass that sucked at two.

 

[XShagrath]

I haven't played the first Azul, but have played Sintra multiple times. I like the setup variability in Sintra a lot. I think I would get tired of the original version after a while, since it's always going to have the same setup.

 

[BassForever]

I haven't played the first Azul, but have played Sintra multiple times. I like the setup variability in Sintra a lot. I think I would get tired of the original version after a while, since it's always going to have the same setup.

Click to shrink...

That's probably true for a group of more hardcore gamers, but with my family and more casual friends the original is perfect. You also have the "advanced" side of the board if someone wants more variety in their strategy.

 

[XShagrath]

That's probably true for a group of more hardcore gamers, but with my family and more casual friends the original is perfect. You also have the "advanced" side of the board if someone wants more variety in their strategy.

Click to shrink...

I don't think you necessarily need hardcore gamers to understand or appreciate Sintra. I've played it a number of times with my mom (who is fairly new to games), and she's kicked my ass in it more than once.

The ruleset is not really increased that much (from what I know of original Azul), and there aren't really any special powers or anything like that. You basically just have two actions you can pick from on your turn, and the strategies all emerge from that.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Great now I'm conflicted again

Click to shrink...

if you only have Money for 1, get Azul. Anyone from kids to grandparents can enjoy and play. Anyone can play horrified but the theme might not be for everyone